The Flood

Time and tragedy have only made Peter Mills and Cara Reichel's 2001 musical The Flood more vital and vibrant than it could have been five years ago. In the wake of terrorism, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, we have seen how disaster can bring out the best and worst both in people and communities. We have seen compassion and condemnation. We have seen generosity and greed. We have seen leaders fail their followers and ordinary people become heroes. And such are the many emotional themes that flow through The Flood, a complex and sprawling musical currently running at the Chernuchin Theatre.

Like a river, the story meanders through the intertwined lives of seven residents of Meyerville, Illinois (based, part, on the real-life town of Valmeyer in the same state.) When the swollen Mississippi threatens to breach its levees during the rainy summer of 1993, different residents react in different ways. Some look forward to washing their proverbial slates clean and starting over, while others cling to the lives they and their families have worked lifetimes to build. As disaster looms (and strikes), the collective strength of the community is put to the test.

It's an intense story about intense emotions, which always makes for a good musical. But while the score is lovely and intense, the overall story is rather weakened due to its very scope. By focusing on seven principal characters, the narrative is spread too thin, and too many characters are left underdeveloped. If the story were more focused on fewer characters, it would probably be tighter and stronger. Likewise, since much of Act One is spent on establishing the many characters and their many connections, very little action seems to happen. Much of the activity is compressed into Act Two, and as emotional as it all is, it ultimately feels uneven. 

 

Fortunately, if Mills and Reichel's book isn't all it could be, their score more than compensates. The music and lyrics are pure Americana, and beautifully capture the cadences of the Midwest. Equally impressive is how the songs match the characters' emotional intellectual levels: a teenager sings a guitar-tinged power ballad about his dreams of escaping his small town, while his teacher's musings on survival and perseverance are more solemn and mature. A group of stereotypical salt-of-the-earth macho men rally together with the cry "Hell, we're Americans! We can pull through anything!"— it's not exactly subtle, but jingoism and blind optimism rarely are. Mills expresses all of these different emotions with differing song styles, forming a complex and multi-layered whole.  

  

The cast of 23 sings beautifully together and nicely captures the communal spirit of a small town. The eight principals (including the River, ethereally interpreted by A'lisa D. Miles) do fine work individually, expressing the many different kinds of people that can exist in a community. Catherine Porter is nicely conflicted as the schoolteacher unsure of what she wants her future to be, Matt DeAngelis is full of teenage angst and bluster as a frustrated boy desperate for more than his rural life, Jennifer Blood is sweet and winsome as an innocent child in a woman's body, and Jamie Davis walks the line between kindness and strength without ever letting her character fall into cliché. Reichel's direction lets the energy ebb and flow as each scene necessitates, and creates some lovely visuals with the large cast and Kanae Heike's multi-layered and multi-leveled set.   

  

Once again, Prospect Theatre Company has presented a show that appeals to the senses rather than trying to overwhelm them. By catering to their audience's intelligence and imagination, Prospect continues to be a special jewel in New York's theatre scene.

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